Material packaging method and means



y 1939- A. c. ROUTH 2,160,285

MATERIAL PACKAGING METHOD AND MEANS Filed April 28, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheetl INVENTOR.

ALMOND C. ROUTH I |=|e.2. BY gxwfl w ATTORNEY.

May 30, 1939. A. c. ROUTH MATERIAL-PACKAGING METHOD AND MEANS Filed A'ril 28, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. BY ALMOND C. ROUTH.

MM W ATTORNEY.

FIG. 4-.

FIG 13 INVENTOR. ALMOND C. ROUTH @mA/X ML ATTORNEY.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 A. C. ROUTH MATERIAL PACKAGING METHOD AND MEANS FlledAprll 28 1937 May 30, 1939.

Patented May 30, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Almond 0. Routh,Sandusky, Ohio Application April 28, 1937, Serial No. 139,380

8 Claims.

This invention relates to packaging methods and apparatus andparticularly when applied to the packaging of semi-fluid materials, suchfor example as lard, mayonnaise, ice cream, cosmetic creams, etc., whensupplied to the packaging apparatus from a source of reservoir.

Inasmuch as the physical characteristics of such materials aresubstantially the same, so far as concerns the mechanical handling andpack aging thereof, I have chosen one material, namely, ice cream, andwill illustrate and describe the invention herein as applied to thepackaging thereof.

Among the objects of the invention are:

To provide generally an improved method and apparatus for packagingsemi-fluid materials;

To provide an improved method and apparatusfor filling a succession ofcontainers of like size with like measured quantities of semi-fluid ma-2'0. terial;

To provide an apparatus and method for accurately measuring off likequantities of semi-fluid material;

To provide a method and apparatus for filling deep containers orreceptacles with semi-fluid 7 material, such for example as ice cream;

To provide an improved method and apparatus for accomplishing the aboveobjects with semifiuid plastic material continuously or intermittentlysupplied through conduit means from a source.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which myinvention appertains.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. I is a top plan view partly in section of an embodiment of myinvention applied to the filling of large cans, such for example asfivegallon cans, with ice cream supplied continuously from a continuousfreezer;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational View of the embodiment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional partly elevational view taken from the plane33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to. parts, of Fig. 2 butillustrating operative parts thereof in different positions;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view similar to a part 50 of Fig. 1 illustratinga step in the method of can filling;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary View similar toapart of Fig. 1 illustratingastep in the process of can filling;

55 Fig. 7 is a top plan View of another embodi- '7 illustrate successivesteps of the process of 10' filling the containers;

Figs. 12 and 13 illustrate another mode of operation of the apparatus ofFigs. 7 and 8, these figures illustrating steps in the process offilling a small container. 1.;

Fig. 14 is view similar to a part of Fig. 7 but illustrating amodification.

Referring to the drawings. Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, I have shown at I anelevated bench, block of concrete, platform or the like upon which go.some of the parts of the apparatus are mounted at a height convenient tothe hands of. operators, so that they can handle the cans to be filledand operate the apparatus Without stooping as Will appear later. 2

Upon the upper surface 2v of the support I. is a pair of cradles.indicated generally at 3 and t. Thesecradles are for the purpose ofcentering and positioning a pair of cans 5 and 6 to be filled, and thecradles may be very simply made by providing a center block l against.which. the inner sides of the cans may rest and a pair of outer blocks 8and 9 at the outsides of the cans. the blocks resting on the uppersurface 2: of the main support. The cradles 3 and d are thus in 3:5 theform of grooves with the outside of the grooves in both cases low sothat the can may readily be rolled thereover out of the cradle and ontothe surface 2, as will be described herein after. 0

Behind each cradle, or when the cans 5 and 6 are lying in the cradles;behind each can is a ram comprising a thrust element l-i) having on itsouter end a foot H- and at its inner end pivoted at l2 to' a short armi3 rigidly connected to a shaft l4 supported in bearings in a bearingpiece I5 and extending laterally therefrom and having rigidly securedthereto a handle it. By rocking the handle I5 clockwise as viewed inFigs; 2 and 4, the foot II will be projected forwardly and will engagethe bottom of the can and force the can forwardly for a purpose tobedescribed, the arm [3 and the thrust element f0 acting as a toggle tohold the foot ll forwardly and prevent its being forced backwardly; and

to this end, the thrust element it may rest upon the surface ll which iselevated above the surface 2 to support the bearing pieces l5l5. Thehandle it may rock around the end of the surface i? as shown in Fig. 4when it is rocked counter-clockwise at which time the foot H iscornpietely withdrawn out of the way of the can bottom so that the canmay be rolled laterally away therefrom in the operation to be described.

At I8 is the end plate of a continuous ice cream freezer and at it thedischarge spout out of which ice cream continuously made in the freezeris continuously discharged preferably in the form of a bar of formsustaining hardness. Ihe construction and operation of this freezerconstitutes no essential part of the present invention and any freezerwhich will continuously supply frozen ice cream to the spout it may beused.

One such suitable freezer is shown in my Patent No. 2,067,683 issuedJanuary 12, 1937, for improvements in Ice cream manufacturing apparatusand another is shown in my co-pending application, Serial No. 141,185,filed May 6, 1937, for improvements in Ice cream making methods andapparatus to which reference may be had.

At this time it may be stated that when other materials than ice creamare supplied to the packaging apparatus, the end plate :3 may representpart of the source or reservoir or processing apparatus from which suchmaterial is supplied.

Referring again to the drawings, a short pipe 2% is coupled to the spoutl9 at one end and at the other end is connected to a two-way valve 2|having a handle 22 which, in the position illustrated in solid line,opens the valve to discharge ice cream into a lateral elbow 23 and whenthrown into the other extreme position indicated in dotted line at 24,directs ice cream into an elbow 25.

A pressure gauge 26 is connected to the short pipe 29 to indicate thepressure of ice cream therein. The elbows 23 and 25 terminate each inparallel legs 2'12'l which are coupled to funnel shaped heads. 28 and29. These heads comprise cone-shaped bodies (H-3i preferably offrusto-conical form increasing in diameter outwardly from the point ofcoupling to the legs 2"l2'l, are open at their ends 32-32 and preferablyformed from thin wall sheet metal and having near the open end 32external flanges 33 and 34. The outside diameter of the open end of theheads is such that the inside of the open end of the cans to be filledwill telescope thereover with a loose fit.

1n the operation of the apparatus thus far described, cans 5 and t areplaced in the cradles 3 and 4 and the levers lB-ifi are rocked forwardlycausing the feet liil to propel the cans forwardly and to telescopetheir outer open ends over the open ends 3232 of the heads 28-4 29 andto cause them to abut upon the flanges 33 and 3 of the heads 28-29.

The heads 28 and 29 are rigidly supported upon the conduit structureincluding the elbows 23 and 25 and therefore the engagement with thefianges 23 and 34 may be a pressure engagement and in order that thetoggle arrangement l3-lfll2 above described may set, the bearing pieces55-! 5 may be adjusted on the surface ll by means of the screw 35 whichprojects through a slot 35 in the bearing piece and is threaded into themain support.

The parts are now in their working position but it should be stated thatwhen the apparatus is initially put into operation, the heads 28 and 29must, so to speak, be primed in the following manner.

Referring to Fig. 6, a board or other cover 31 is placed over the openend of one of the heads, say the head 29, and the valve handle 22 isturned to the dotted line position in Fig. 6 and ice cream flows intothe head 29 finally completely filling it, forcing the air out of theopen end of the head and under the board 3'! so that when it isultimately completely filled and the board 3? is removed, there will bea wall or face of ice cream across the open end of the head. In asimilar way, the head 28 is filled providing such a wall or face 38 byturning the handle 22 to the solid line position, in this case the facealready having been made and the board 31 shown in broken line havingbeen removed.

The heads are in this condition when the open ends of the cans 5 and 6are telescoped thereover as above described. With the parts assembled asdescribed, the handle 22 is turned to the solid line position in Fig. 1and ice cream flows from the freezer through the elbow 23 into the head28 and I have found that the mass of ice cream in the head 28 will bepropelled forwardly, being replenished from behind by ice cream from theelbow 23 and the said face 38 will move into the can substantiallywithout distortion, one position of its continuous movement beingillustrated in Fig. 1 at 38.

It will be noted that the inside diameter of the head 28 at its open endwill be slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the can because ofthe fact that the can is telescoped outwardly over the open end of thehead and therefore the cylinder of ice cream which is thus propelledinto the can will be slightly smaller than the inside of the can andwill fall by gravity to the lower side of the can. This is illustratedin Fig. 3 where the cylindrical mass of ice cream is shown at 39 and thespace at 48 is caused by the settling of the mass 39 to the bottom ofthe can 6.

The air between the bottom of the can and the face 38, as the latterprogresses toward the bottom, escapes outwardly through the space 63 andis forced out through the loose fit cracks at the open end of the can.

While the can is filling, in this manner, the pressure gauge 26 willindicate a certain normal pressure, for example 60 lbs. per sq. in. andthis pressure will be maintained throughout the filling of the can. Whenthe face 33 of ice cream however has reached the bottom of the can, thepressure behind it, that is to say in the pipe 26 and elbow 23, willstart to rise and the ice cream now within the can and Within the head28 will be put under accumulating pressure, the pressure being suppliedas will be understood, by the ice cream making machine which is alwaysprovided with some means to forcibly propel the ice cream continuouslythrough it. This increase in pres.- sure will cause the ice cream mass39 in the can to expand and completely fill it, filling the air space48. The operator of the apparatus watches the gauge 26 and when thepressure has risen to a predetermined amount, such for example as '70lbs. or lbs. per sq. in., the operator then throws the handle 22 to theother position or in the case of Fig. 1, the dotted line position 24,which shuts off the supply of ice cream to the head 28 and begins tosupply it to the head 29 to fill the can 5, as has just been describedfor the can 6.

The ice cream in the can 6 is now under the pressure at which the supplywas. cut off. It is now time to remove the filled can t and to this ill)end, the operator rocks the lever I 6 from the position of Fig. l tothat of Fig. 4 withdrawing the foot H and the ice cream expands becauseof the pressure thereon and moves the can 6 away from the head 28 untilthe open end of the can thus clears the open end 32 of the head.

In all continuous ice cream making machinery, it is customary toincorporate into the ice cream a measured quantity of air causing theice cream to have increased volume or overrun. When suchair-incorporated ice cream is put under pressure, it tends to contractand when the pressure is relieved, it expands. It is this expansionwhich is utilized in the practice of my invention to disconnect the canfrom the head and the amount of expansion and therefore the amount ofretractile movement of the can will be in proportion to the excesspressure on the ice cream. For example, I have found that with a fivegallon can 9" in diameter and 20 long and with a normal amount ofoverrun, if the pressure is raised to lbs. on the gauge before shuttingofi, the can will be moved backwardly A or if the pressure is raised to80 lbs. the can will be moved /2", these quantities being approximate.

The forward and rearward positions of the can are indicated by the lines93 and 94 of Fig. 4.

The can having been retracted by expansion, the operator rolls the canlaterally out of the cradle, that is to say overthe outer block 8 andonto the surface 2 and places an empty can on the cradle and raises thelever It to the position of Fig. 1 to propel the can into engagementwith the head flange as described above preparatory to filling. In themeantime, the can 5 has filled, the pressure has risen and the handle isthen thrown to fill the can 6, and the pressure is released from the canby allowing it to be retracted upon operation of the lever I6 for thatcan and it is correspondingly rolled laterally out of the cradle overthe outer block 9 onto the surface 2. The cans thus filled may becovered with lids or otherwise and are ready for removal from theapparatus. It is to be particularly observed that,

in connection with Fig. 5 and Fig. 4, since the can is retracted so thatits open end barely clears the end 32 of the head, when the can isrolled out of the'cradle the ice cream is sheared off leaving a face orwall ll on the ice cream in the can and a corresponding face or wall 42on the ice cream in the head. The can is thus filled exactly full andthe head is left with a filling of ice cream so that it does not have tobe again primed as described above in connection with Fig. 6 forsuccessive can fillings.

I have found that cans can be filled with a very high degree ofaccuracy, that is to say a succession of cans of the same volumetriccontent being filled to very accurately the same weight of ice cream.

In some cases, the operator may allow the pressure to rise too far andtherefore the can may be retracted so far that when it is rolledlaterally to shear oif the ice cream some of it may fall out downwardlybetween the end of the can and the end of the head. To take care ofthese abnormal operations, a funnel 23 is supported directly under thejuncture of the can end and the head and discharges downwardly into acan 44 which may be placed thereunder to receive such accidentallydropped ice cream, so that the floor and all other parts of theapparatus may be easily kept clean and sanitary.

In Figs. '7 to 14 is illustrated an embodiment of my invention in anapparatus for rapidly filling small containers or packages of ice creamof individual saleable size.

' At 45 is shown a pipe into which ice cream may be continuously forcedfrom a continuous ice cream making machine, it being thought unnecessaryto illustrate or describe more of the machine in View of the morecomplete description in connection with the first described form. Thepipe 35 supplies the ice cream to elbows 46 and 4'! through a two-wayvalve 48 operated by a valve arm 49 which may be thrown from the solidline position illustrated in which the ice cream is supplied to theelbow 46, to the dotted line position 50 in which the ice cream is cutoff from the elbow 46 and supplied to the elbow 41.

The elbows 46 and 4'! comprise parallel portions 5| and 52 provided at asuitable distance from their open ends each with a flange 53-53. The endportions 5454 beyond the flanges 53 53 are preferably of designed orpredetermined cross sectional form, the most common form being circular.One of the receptacles to be filled is shown at 55 and is preferably acardboard container of cylindrical form open at the upper end butadapted to have a lid fitted thereon. At 56 is a vertical tablesupported on a stand 57 opposite the discharge end of the elbows, to bemore fully described.

Means is provided to automatically and periodically repeatedly throw thevalve arm from one position to the other as follows. A bar 58 is mountedreciprocably in spaced bearings 59 9 supported on standards GIL-60. Thebar 58 is preferably rectangular but may be round and in the lattercase, means well known would be provided to prevent it from rotating.

The bar is provided with a slot 6! therein by which adjustable spacedstops 62 and 63 are mounted on the bar. The stops, shown in Figs. '7 and9, may be variously constructed but in the form illustrated comprise ahead 64 having a shank 65 projected through the slot GI and havinganother head 65 threaded thereon and thereby clamping the two heads onopposite sides of the bar. By loosening the head 66, the shank 65 may beslid along the slot 6! and then the head may be tightened again toadjustably position the heads along the slot. The arm 49 is preferablyforked, as shown in Fig. 9, the two arms of the fork embracing the bar58 therebetween and engaging the two parts of the stop on each side ofthe bar.

By this means, when the bar 58 is moved toward the left as viewed inFig. '7, the stop 62 will engage the arm 49 and move it to the dottedposition 50 and vice versa when the bar moves in the other direction,the stop 63 will move the arm back to the solid line position shown, andthe arm M1 in these two positions, as stated above, cutting off the flowof ice cream from one elbow and initiating it in another.

To reciprocate the bar 58, the right hand end as viewed in Fig. '7 has apin 67 projecting through a slot 68 in a lever 69 at one end, the otherend of the lever being pivoted as at '50 upon the table 56. A motor H bymeans of a pulley "l2 and belt 13 drives a crank wheel M having a crankpin '55, the pin being connected by a rod 16 with the lever 69 at 1!between its ends.

The motor H is preferably an adjustable speed motor and in the drawingsis shown as a direct current motor having a field 18 provided with afield rheostat 19 by which the speed may be varied. Obviously othermeans. of providing variable speed of the crankwheel 74 may be provided.

As will now be clear, when the motor H is energized, the lever 69 willbe oscillated back and forth to effect the above described throw of thearm 49; and by adjusting the speed of the motor H, the amount of icecream allowed to pass the valve between throws may be adjusted and thequantities of ice cream thereby measured.

The stops 6263 may be set to adjust the throw of the valve in eachdirection but it may also be desired to adjust the velocity with whichthe arm 49 moves and for this purpose the rod 16 may be adjustablyconnected to the wheel 14 by the arrangement shown in Fig. 14 whichprovides a plurality of holes 8ll8il in the Wheel for the pivot '15 anda plurality of holes 8I-8l corresponding thereto, in the rod 76.

In general, there are two modes of operation for the apparatus abovedescribed. In the first mode of operation, a receptacle 55 as shown inbroken line in Fig. 7 is telescoped over the nozzle 82 provided by thecontinuation of the straight portion 52 of the elbow 4? and the upperend of the receptacle is stopped on the flange 53 to position it. Whenthe arm 49 is turned toward the left, ice cream will be forced out ofthe nozzle and into the receptacle shoving it downwardly over thenozzle. This action is illustrated in solid line for the nozzle 83corresponding to the nozzle 82, the receptacle 55 in this case beingpartway pushed off of the nozzle. As the ice cream continues to bedischarged, the receptacle 55 will be pushed all the way out of thenozzle until the bottom thereof is stopped on the table 56. The arm 49is so timed that at this instant, the flow of ice cream is cut oil anddiverted into the other nozzle on which another receptacle has, in themeantime, been telescoped.

The parts are now in the position illustrated in Fig. 10 and theoperator moves the container 55 laterally, that is to say toward theright for example, the parts taking up the position of Fig. 11 in solidline wherein it will be seen that the ice cream is sheared off from theend of the nozzle 82 and from the end of the receptacle 55 leaving thereceptacle and the nozzle both completely full. Finally the receptacle55 reaches the position shown in dotted line in Fig. 11 and theoperation is complete, the receptacle containing a measured portion ofice cream and the nozzle being filled and ready for another operation.

Inasmuch as the container telescopes over the nozzle, the diameter ofthe container will be slightly larger than the ice cream extruded intoit and the air therefore can move outwardly around the ice cream fromthe container.

In the other mode of operation illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13, thecontainer as shown in Fig. 13 at 84 in broken line is not telescopedover the nozzle 82 but is aligned therewith directly thereunder by meansof a cradle 85 on the table 56 in which the receptacle is placed, Theoperation is illustrated for the nozzle 83 at the right hand part ofFig. 13 in which the receptacle 84 is partly filled. The inside diameterof the receptacle 8-! may be slightly larger than that of the nozzle 83so that the ice cream extruded into it will expel the air out from thecontainer and will not trap air in the container.

It will be observed that it is not necessary to fill the containerentirely full although it may be so filled if desired. In Fig. 13, thecontainer has been filled about two-thirds full and the flow of icecream is shut off at that point. The

container is then moved toward the right as indicated in Fig. 12shearing oif the ice cream at the nozzle 83 and at the top of thecontainer itself, leaving in the container a measured quantity of icecream which may be a container full or any desired fraction thereof.

In the patent to Herron, No, 2,042,940 issued June 2, 1936, there isillustrated and described a method and apparatus for making extruded icecream with a core therein filled with flavoring material. Ice cream witha flavor filled core may be packed in the containers by the method andapparatus of Figs. 7 to 14. As indicated in Fig. 7, a tube 85 isprojected axially into each of the nozzles 82 and 83, Fig. '7, andsealedly passes upwardly outwardly through the walls of the elbows 45and 4'! and communicates with a supply pipe 81 through a two-way valve38 under the control of an arm 89. The pipe 81 may be connected to asource of syrup and when the valve is operated by movement of the arm 89toward the right, it will direct the syrup into the nozzle 83 and whenit is moved into the dotted line position toward the left, it willdirect the syrup into the nozzle 82 and the filled core will be formedin the ice cream as described in said Herron patent.

The arm 89 may be operated by the bar 58 as described for the bar 49 bymeans of a pair of stops 90 and 9| adjustable longitudinally in a slot92.

It will be understood, of course, that the syrup tubes 8586 may be usedwith either of the modes of operation of Fig. 7 or Fig. 13 or may beomitted with either mode.

In the above description, I have described two embodiments by which myinvention may be practiced. Obviously, my invention is not limited tothe exact details and construction illustrated and described nor tothese two embodiments; and it will be understood that changes andmodifications may be made within the spirit of my invention withoutsacrificing its advantages and within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of placing in each of a. succession of containers a likemeasured quantity of semi-fluid form-sustaining material supplied to adischarge nozzle from a material source at a point spaced from thedischarge end of the nozzle, which includes filling the nozzle to theend thereof, positioning one of the containers over the nozzle, causingthe material to be supplied to the nozzle and to be extruded out of thenozzle in the form of a bar and to be deposited in the containersubstantially without change of its extruded form thereby progressivelyfilling the container from the open end thereof to the base, stoppingthe flow of material when a predetermined quantity has been extruded,moving the container longitudinally and then laterally with respect tothe nozzle end to shear off the bar by the walls of the container and ofthe nozzle, leaving the nozzle filled substantially to the end, and soon repeatedly with a succession of containers.

2. The method of filling a series of open mouth containers each with alike measured quantity of form sustaining material extruded from anozzle, which includes starting with the nozzle filled to the endthereof, then positioning the mouth of one of the containers over thenozzle and disposing the mouth closely adjacent to the end of thenozzle, starting the extrusion of material from the nozzle in aform-sustaining bar,

receiving the bar in the container to progressively fill the containerfrom the open end thereof to the base, stopping the extrusion when apredetermined quantity has been extruded, moving the containerlongitudinally and laterally to cause its mouth to shear off the bar atthe nozzle end and causing the nozzle to shear off the bar at thecontainer mouth, leaving the nozzle filled to its end, and so on .witheach of the series of containers.

3. The method of filling a series of tubular walled open mouthcontainers each with a predetermined measured quantity of formsustaining material supplied to an extrusion nozzle, which includesfilling the nozzle to the extreme end thereof, telescoping over thenozzle the open end of one of the containers, starting the flow ofmaterial and the extrusion thereof from the end of the nozzle into thecontainer in the form of a bar of form sustaining hardness toprogressively fill the container from the open end thereof to the base,stopping the extrusion after a predetermined quantity has been extrudedinto the container, disposing the container so that its open end and theend of the nozzle are substantially co-planar, removing the containerlaterally to shear off the bar at the end of the nozzle and at the endof the container substantially on said plane, leaving the nozzle filledto the end and so on with successive containers.

4. In an apparatus for filling large diameter receptacles withform-sustaining semi-fluid compressible material continuously suppliedunder pressure by small diameter conduit means from a source, a nozzleconnected to the conduit means and flaring outwardly to a large diameterat the open end, means adapted to support material therein when filledto the large diameter end thereof, said nozzle adapted to telescopinglyreceive the open mouth of the receptacle, a stop, operable meansengageable with the receptacle base to hold a portion of the receptacleagainst the stop in the nozzle telescoped direction, means for extrudingmaterial into the receptacle including a valve controlling the conduitmeans and operable to supply material under pressure through the nozzleto the receptacle in the form of a large diameter form-sustaining bar,the valve adapted to be operated to shut off supply of material when thereceptacle is completely filled and under pressure from the source, theoperable means being then disengageable from the receptacle base tocause the compressed pressure-filled contents of the receptacle toexpand and move the receptacle until the receptacle is untelescoped fromthe nozzle, and a plurality of transversely extending support members,the receptacle being supported on said transversely extending members sothat it may then be moved laterally to shear off the bar on the end ofthe nozzle and on the end of the receptacle leaving the nozzle filled tothe end.

5. In a mechanism for filling open mouth cans with ice cream supplied inform sustaining hardness and under pressure from a continuous ice creamfreezer, a support adapted to support horizontally a pair of cans,conduit means for conducting ice cream from the freezer, a pair ofhorizontally disposed nozzles one aligned with each can, a valve fordirecting the ice cream to one or the other of the nozzles, the nozzleseach diverging outwardly to a large diameter at the open end over whichthe can may be telescoped, a stop on the nozzle against which the openend of the can may abut, an operable mechanism for exerting force on thecan to force its open end against the stop, the nozzle being adapted tobe initially filled to its end with form-sustaining ice cream so thatwhen the valve is operated an ice cream bar of the diameter of thenozzle end will be extruded into the can to substantially fill it andfinally to create excess pressure therein, the operable mechanism beingthen operable to release the can to cause the ice cream under excesspressure to expand and retract the can and untelescope it from thenozzle, the supports being constructed so that the can may then be movedlaterally to shear off the ice cream bar at the end of the nozzle and atthe end of the can leaving the nozzle again filled to its open end.

6. In a mechanism for filling large diameter cans with ice creamsupplied in form sustaining hardness and under pressure from acontinuous ice cream freezer, a support adapted to support horizontallyand substantially parallel a pair of cans, conduit means for conductingice cream from the freezer, a pair of horizontally disposed nozzles onealigned with each can and diverging outwardly from a small diameter atits juncture with the conduit means to a large diameter at the open end,the diameter at the open end adapted to be telescoped into the can, avalve for directing the ice cream to one or the other of the nozzles, astop on the nozzle against which the open end of the telescoped can mayabut, an operable mechanism for exerting force at the rear end of thecan to force its open end against the stop, the nozzle adapted to beinitially filled to its end with form sustaining ice cream so that whenthe valve is operated an ice cream bar of the diameter of the nozzle endwill be extruded into the can and when the can is substantially filledwill cause excess pressure therein, the operable mechanism being thenoperable to release the can to cause the ice cream under excess pressureto expand and retract the can and untelescope it from the nozzle, thesupports being constructed so that the can may be moved laterally toshear off the ice cream bar at the end of the nozzle and at the end ofthe can leaving the nozzle filled to its end.

'7. The method of filling an open-mouth container with a measuredquantity of form-sustaining material through a nozzle, which includestelescoping the container over the nozzle and disposing the mouththereof closely adjacent the end of the nozzle, starting the extrusionof the material from the nozzle in a form sustaining bar havingsubstantially the cross sectional area of the container, progressivelyforcing the bar into the container from the open end thereof towards thecontainer base while providing a passage for the escape of trapped air,stopping the extrusion when a predetermined quantity has been extruded,effecting relative longitudinal movement between the container and thenozzle simultaneous with progressively forcing the bar into thecontainer to effect disengagement therebetween, and moving the containerlaterally to cause its mouth to shear off the bar at the nozzle end andcausing the nozzle toshear off the bar at the container mouth, leavingthe nozzle filled to its end.

8. In an apparatus for filling receptacles with form-sustainingsemi-fluid material supplied by conduit means from a supply source,arnozzle connected to the conduit means, having an enlarged tubular headadapted to be filled with the semifiuid, the nozzle head being adaptedto have a receptacle telescoped thereover, stop means on the head forlimiting telescoping movement between the receptacle and head, a valvecontrolling the conduit means and operable to supply material throughthe nozzle to the receptacle as a form-sustaining bar substantiallyequal in cross sectional area to the receptacle, the valve being adaptedto shut off supply of material when the receptacle has received ameasured quantity of bar, means engaging the receptacle base maintainingthe receptacle against the stop-means, said means being movable topermit dis-engagement of the receptacle with the nozzle head, andsupport members for the receptacle extending transversely of thereceptacle, adapted to guide lateral movement of the receptacle to causethe bar to be sheared oil at the head of the nozzle and at the open endof the container.

ALMOND C. ROUTH.

